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Being back with the rest of the Camp Fam feels like a dream to Ben. He can barely believe he’s with his friends again, not after spending so long on his own, convinced to be the last human left on the island.
It takes a while for the reality of it to truly dawn upon him, because he doesn’t exactly have the time to stop and think while they’re struggling to save Darius and Sammy from the big game hunters. No, he only acknowledges it hours later, when they’re all safe — or as safe as they can be on Isla Nublar — and he’s laying on a bunk bed inside the Treehouse.
It’s such a strange feeling, not to be alone anymore. Yas has taken the first guard shift, and yet Ben can’t help but keep his eyes open, wary of any sound that might announce the approach of a predator. What can he say, habits die hard.
As ironic as it may sound, considering how it made him snap a while ago, he also misses the reassuring presence of Bumpy next to him. Of course, she’s way too massive now to get into the Treehouse so she’s sleeping at the bottom of it, hidden among the fern bushes to camouflage herself from carnivores. Even though Ben just has to look down to see her, it still makes him feel uneasy not to have her by his side, no matter how much he’s toughened up lately.
He’s resigned himself to stay awake all night when someone climbs in bed next to him. Somehow, he didn’t hear them coming, too lost in his own thoughts. His survival instincts kick in before he even thinks and a second later, he has the intruder shoved into the mattress and a makeshift knife he always keeps with him pressed against his throat.
“Wow, easy. It’s only me.”
When he recognizes Kenji, Ben hurries to release him. His ears are burning red from the embarrassment of attacking one of his friends.
“Sorry, reflexes.” He apologizes, then after a second of silence, he adds: “Do you need something?”
“Well, you see, this place hasn’t exactly been built with enough beds for six people, so I thought we could share until we fix that in the morning. But I’ll go bother Darius instead if you prefer to be alone.”
There’s a shadow in Kenji’s eyes when he mentions how they didn’t build the Treehouse with Ben’s return in mind. From the way his friends all welcomed him back with hugs and tears, Ben can tell that they were all affected by his presumed death.
“No!” He protests, maybe a little too fast and a little too vehement. “No, it’s okay, you… you can stay. I was just surprised, is all.”
“Thanks for sparing me from another thousand dinosaur facts.” Kenji thanks him warmly as he slips under the covers.
It’s a tight fit, since the bed is only meant for one person, but Ben finds out he doesn’t mind being this close to the other boy. It’s a nice reminder that he won’t have to survive on his own, not anymore, that from now on he’ll be able to lean on his friends again.
They don’t say anything for a while, maybe because it’s hard to find where to start, with how crazy their lives are and how long they’ve been apart. Ben is starting to think Kenji has fallen asleep when his friend asks:
“Is it true that you fought Toro?”
Ben smiles proudly at the memory, happy to finally have someone willing to listen to the tale.
“Yeah, with a spear. Granted, it would have been harder if Bumpy hadn’t shown up at the last minute, but…”
“Wait, you mean you went to confront Toro without Bumpy? On your own? With nothing but a spear?”
Ben doesn’t really know how to respond to the shock he can hear in his friend’s voice.
“Uhm, yes?”
“I can’t tell if that was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid of you. Like, sure, it sounds awesome, but you could have been killed…”
“A thousand other things on this island could have killed me too. It was worth a try and I’m alive, aren’t I?”
Kenji chuckles at that, but it’s not enough to completely dissipate the concern in his eyes.
“You’re right, you’re alive and you’re here now. You’re really alive. And you became so strong, too…”
“Only because I had no other choice.”
Ben doesn’t mean to put so much bite into his tone. He doesn’t even intend to let the words out to begin with, but they escape him regardless. He may seem tough now, but he remembers being a scared kid alone in the middle of the jungle, who wouldn’t have survived a day if Bumpy hadn’t been there.
His eyes widen when Kenji wraps his arms around him. When Ben looks at him, he realizes that tears are threatening to spill on his friend’s cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, I should have followed Bumpy when she ran away, then we would have found you and… and you wouldn’t have had to go through all this alone…”
Kenji’s voice is shaking and full of guilt, and while it’s nice to know that he cares about him, the last thing Ben wants is for his friend to torture himself like this. He returns the hug and tries not to tear up at how nice it feels to be allowed this kind of human contact again.
“It’s okay. You had no way to know I was alive and you and the others were in a rush to get to the ferry. And if you had ventured alone in the middle of the night looking for me, who knows what dinosaurs you could have encountered. In the end, we both made it, so let’s focus on that, alright?”
Kenji answers with a small nod of approval. His hold on him tightens and he draws Ben close to his chest.
“I’m still sorry you had to go through all this. But now you’re safe with us and we’ll never leave you behind ever again. We’ll protect you, I promise.”
Ben wants to reassure Kenji again, to assure him that he knows this, that he’s alright, but his throat is too tight with emotion for any word to come out. For what seemed like an eternity to him, he had no one to rely on but himself. He couldn’t allow himself to be weak, because showing weakness on Isla Nublar meant death; it was something he had understood the day he had chased the pack of compies away.
But now, he isn’t alone anymore, and he suddenly realizes, as he buries his fingers into Kenji’s blue shirt, that he’s allowed to let his barriers down, at least for a little while, because his friends are there to watch his back. He won’t have to fight against sleep to stay on the lookout for predators anymore. And no matter how much strength and confidence he gained lately, his world won’t crumble if he allows himself to be small, scared little Ben for a minute, because now he can lean on his friends.
The moment he realizes this, Ben starts sobbing, hard, because he can, because all this time he’s been terrified but had to quiet it down if he wanted to stay alive. He hides his face against Kenji’s chest and soon enough, he can feel gentle fingers running through his hair in a soothing motion.
“I’ve got you. Everything’s gonna be fine.”
Kenji has never sounded more sincere or serious and Ben believes him with all his heart. He knows that whatever hardships Isla Nublar sends at them next, they’ll face it together. They’ll find a way off this island, all six of them, as a family.
With that comforting thought in mind, his tears slowly dry out. For the first time in weeks, Ben falls into a peaceful sleep, feeling safe in Kenji’s arms.